Evans & Khalifa Celebrate Dutch Delight by Howard Harding
July 11, 2011- Egypt's
Osama Khaled Khalifa and Welsh wizard Tesni Evans won the U19 titles in
the Dutch Junior Open Squash Championships - both champions coming from
behind to triumph in the finals of the European Squash Federation Super
Series Junior Circuit event celebrating its 25th year at the Frans
Otten Stadion in Amsterdam.
Second seed Khalifa became one
of the event's youngest ever champions when he upset favourite Tyler
Osborne in the men's final. The 16-year-old from Cairo - the younger
brother of 18-year-old World Junior champion Amr Khaled Khalifa - was
making his first appearance in an ESF U19 event.
But after
toppling Canada's third seed Michael McCue in the semi-finals, Khalifa
extended top-seeded Canadian Osborne to a 34-point first game before
prevailing 16-18, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 to claim the title.
An
all-Welsh final was predicted in the women's event - but third seed
Maria Elena Ubina saw off Welsh national championship runner-up Hannah
Davies, the No2 seed, in the semi-finals to claim an unexpected place
in the climax.
And the 16-year-old from Connecticut in the
USA took the early advantage in the final as Evans dropped her first
game of the championship.
But the Cardiff-born 18-year-old favourite then took control as Evans marched through to her 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3 victory.
The
triumph marks Evans's third ESF junior circuit title of the season,
after winning the Swiss Junior Open in December and the Welsh Junior
Open in March. RESULTS: Dutch Junior Open Squash Championships, Amsterdam, Netherlands